JUDY WOODRUFF: President-elect
Biden spoke today,
as we reported, in
Delaware. He addressed

the pandemic surge
and the relief package
ahead of the holiday.

Yamiche Alcindor was at
the event. And she joins
us now from Wilmington.

So, hello, Yamiche.

Tell us about what -- more about
what the president-elect had
to say in these days leading

up to Christmas. He had a
pretty dire warning, didn't he?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: That's right.

President-elect Joe Biden
really issued a stark warning
to Americans, as, of course,

320,000 Americans have now died
from the coronavirus pandemic.
He said that Americans are going

to need to steel their spines
and be ready, because he said
the darkest days are ahead

of us, not behind us.

That, of course, is remarkable,
thinking about all the things
people lived through in 2020.

But he said, I'm going to give
it to you straight. I'm going to
tell you the truth about this.

He said, look, the vaccine,
the COVID vaccine, is great,
it's promising. We're hoping to

get it to as many Americans
as possible, but he
said the vaccine is not
going to stop people

from dying.

And he was making, of course,
that contrast because President
Trump has downplayed the

coronavirus pandemic,
has been accused of
spreading disinformation
about the pandemic,

so that was Joe Biden in some
ways separating himself from
the administration that he's

going to be taking over from.

He also said that he's
willing and wanting to
work with Congress to
try to get more COVID

relief done. Of course,
we have been covering
this all week, with Lisa
giving us the play-by-play.

And he said that he -- once
he comes into office, he wants
to see a new bill. He says

that this is really
just a down payment.

I should remind people that, a
few weeks ago, Joe Biden told me
that -- when I was questioning

him, that he wanted to see
billions of new dollars poured
into the economy, not trillions,

but billions.

So, we have to keep watching
what exactly he does.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Different
subject, Yamiche.

He addressed the reported,
suspected hack by the Russians
of U.S. government agencies,

private companies. What are we
learning, what are you learning
about how he plans to respond

himself to all this?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR:
Well, president-elect
Biden really left this
squarely in the fault of

President Trump. He said this
happened under President Trump's
watch. He said that these

hackers that look like they are
Russian hackers - - experts say
that -- that they are really

people who caught the United
States off-guard and unprepared.

He said that President Trump,
while he's still in office for
these 20-odd days left, that

he really needs to do something
about this. He also said
that he pledged he would get

ready and get the country and
the government more protected.

I questioned him specifically,
can you ensure Americans that
these government agencies that

were targeted, including the
Department of Homeland Security
and State Department, will

they be safe when you
are president? And he
said, Judy, "I cannot."

That in some ways is a
really remarkable statement,
thinking about the fact
that there's so much

at stake and that experts have
said that we're not sure we
will know whether or not Russia

is continuing to be in those
networks and whether or not
we will be able to remove them

in a quick time period or if it
is going to take years to do so.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now,
more broadly, Yamiche,
we are expecting the
president-elect to announce

more of his picks for his
Cabinet this week, including
for secretary of education.

What are you hearing
about all that?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: That's right.

The Biden administration,
the Biden transition
team, they're continuing
to make picks, continuing

to do the work, even though,
I should say, president-elect
Biden said today they're not

getting all the cooperation
they want to, especially when it
comes to the Defense Department,

as well as other pockets
of the government.

That being said, we know
that president-elect Biden is
expected to pick Miguel Cardona.

And I want to put up for
people a little bit about his
background. He's a Puerto Rican

education official. He was
Connecticut's education
commissioner. He was
also a former public

school teacher and
principal. This is a --
he's seen as a lifelong
champion for public school,

which is much different
than Betsy DeVos, the
current education secretary.

Also, he has pushed for schools
to reopen during COVID. Now,
people who are allies of

Cardona say that he's someone
who's really going to be trying
to turn the U.S. government

and the Education Department
back to supporting
public schools. There
are a lot of critics

of Betsy DeVos, the current
education secretary, who say she
was focused too much on school

choice, focused too much on the
private sector, and not doing
enough to really help public

schools, especially
during the pandemic.

I also think it's very
interesting that he is
pressing for schools
to be reopened during

the pandemic. He's saying,
essentially, that there are too
many students, too many children

who are being left behind in
the middle of the pandemic.

This is, in some ways, a
controversial idea. But there
are, of course, people who want

to see more students in
schools and others of course,
who say it's just not safe.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And finally,
Yamiche, turning to President
Trump, he is continuing to push

these unfounded claims of
widespread fraud in the
election that led to his defeat.

But, today, we see two of his
prominent allies in the media
backing away from that. What

have you learned about
what's happened here?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: This
is pretty remarkable.

We saw really unusual walk-backs
from FOX News, as well as
Newsmax, which is a smaller

conservative network. They
both backed away from reporting
that they were doing that was,

in some ways, insinuating
that voting machines,
somehow, the votes may
have been changed because

of those machines.

What we saw were two companies
then threaten those networks
with legal action, saying that

you are essentially lying about
our companies. We then saw FOX
News and Newsmax say, in fact,

that there is no evidence
that voting machines
have been changed or
that there was any sort

of fraud there.

It's really important, because
President Trump has continued
to make the case, even though

there's no evidence, even
though he has lost in court case
after court case, he continues

to make the case that these
voting machines were messed
with and that that's -- somehow,

that's the reason why he
lost the 2020 election.

So, in some ways, we're seeing
these media outlets back away
from the president's claims.

I also think it's notable
because there are allies of the
president who tell me, as well

as other reporters, that they
are increasingly worried about
the fact that the president

wants to go through even more
means to try to take back
this election, thinking about

putting in a special
counsel to oversee election
fraud and other means.

There are a lot of people
who are very worried
about the president's
actions. He hasn't taken

those actions yet. But this --
these media companies walking
that back, as well as the

president continuing to really
say things that could be
very scary, tells us where we

are in this moment, where
the president now has about
29 days left in office.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, it sounds
like this threat of legal action
had something to do with what

happened.

Yamiche Alcindor reporting
again on the outgoing
president and the incoming one.

Thank you, Yamiche.